deja Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Wow, the infamous smart bolt! Its amazing, the things you think couldn't possibly happen come along to bite you in the butt. I think Murphy covers the bolt vs steering u-joint in capter 12 of the law book. Glad it all worked out and you found the problem without spending mega-dollars first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spotfitz Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Glad you found it and more so that your alright. I had just come back from a 2 hour highway drive and turned right into town. About a block later the 30mph road curved to the left and then straightened out. I curved left as usually and ended up crossing traffic and stopping in a church parking lot. Luckily noone was coming at me at the time. Come to find out the clamp on the u-joint had come loose and I had no steering at all. To think what could have happened on the highway at speed with the same problem makes me shiver to this day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cygnusx1 Posted December 3, 2007 Author Share Posted December 3, 2007 I am a little surprised that this isn't more common. There is a pocket in the crossmember right underneath the lower steering u-joint. That pocket can collect all kinds of debris that can pop up and block the joint at any given moment. I could see a pebble doing almost the same thing. Buzz came up with a good idea. He suggested wrapping some of that foam/rubber pipe insulation around the lower u-joint. That would take up any space where debris might want to collect and would keep space junk out of the u-joint. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1noel Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Cyg, Glad you found out what happened and that it won't cost you a bunch of dollars or un-needed parts to fix. A whole lot of us will sleep and drive (hopefully not at the same time) way more comfortably now. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IdfMF Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 Hi Cygnus, I have been watching this thread hoping that you would find not only the cause but that it was a freak thing. I've owned my 240 since 1979 and now that I am about to unleash it with 400HP and modified everything, I could not help but wonder if this would happen to me. You can damn well bet that I'll be going over the engine compartment with a fine tooth comb looking for loose parts!! Thanks again for bringing this up, Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted December 3, 2007 Share Posted December 3, 2007 and it says "what z is all about" :| dude... this is like... sooooo wangan midnight. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrZ Posted January 18, 2008 Share Posted January 18, 2008 Wow! I'll check mine. I hope all of us Z owners can check this from time to time. Safe Motoring to us all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted January 21, 2008 Share Posted January 21, 2008 Wooo, that could have been very nasty. Vaguely remember hearing of a steering lock jamming before, not sure though. Anyway my project Z is a JDM, no steering lock, and thats the way its going to stay. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oddmanout84 Posted October 4, 2008 Share Posted October 4, 2008 and it says "what z is all about" :| dude... this is like... sooooo wangan midnight. So the whole "possessed" Devil Z thing was a foreign object in the steering rack? Dude, Akio sucks as a mechanic... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ozzinc Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 thank god you or anyone else wasnt injured or killed, its something that will have you pretty much paranoid about driving the car, not until you figure out what happened, you should also find out if you can remember, was there anything inthe road, did you here any type of noise before this happened, something could have jammed somewhere in either the front suspension of the car or the caliper could have seized which i doubt in this situation, when there is unseen debris in the road and if you donot have the lower metal cover that shields some of the suspension and engine, something could have gotten tangled in the suspension and could have fallen out when you came to a stop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.